Petrology and geochronology of the Buhwa Greenstone Belt in Zimbabwe: Implications for the formation of the Kalahari Craton

Abstract

New petrological data and hornblende Ar-Ar ages for metabasites from the Buhwa Greenstone Belt located along the southern margin of an Archean TTG-greenstone terrane of the Zimbabwe Craton adjacent to the Neoarchean granulite terrane of the Limpopo Complex, suggest increase of metamorphic grade toward the contact with the Limpopo Complex. 2.0 Ga Ar-Ar ages suggest that the final collision of the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe Cratons and the formation of the Kalahari Craton might have taken place at ca. 2.0 Ga